The Ledge
by Japhith
Summary: Step back from that ledge my friend... we can cut ties with all the lies... that we've been living in...


**The Ledge**

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening Notes: This started as a Christmas fic, and evolved into something I liked a lot better. I know I hardly ever write anything serious, but kids, take this one seriously. Or, at least as seriously as you can, considering it's largely about a half-demon who can fly and hurl cars about with her mind.

Opening Note #2: This fic was inspired by Robin #156, written by Adam Beechen. Great writer, even for a touchy one like this.

Standard Disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

December in central California wasn't exactly freezing, but it defiantly wasn't palm trees and bikinis either. A cold wind blew across the rooftops of the upper south side of town, where the majority of the low to mid level housing was, whispering a promise of frost come morning, and snow if the low pressure front continued in off the bay.

The only sound up on the roof of 2136 Bartly Avenue aside from the wind was the whimpering and sobbing of a young woman. The girl was no more than sixteen or seventeen, and she clutched a red scarf in her hands as she cried.

"Why?" she muttered to the wind, "Why doesn't anyone care?"

The wind didn't reply and the girl sobbed all that much harder. After a few moments, she quieted and wrapped the slightly damp scarf around her neck. "I'm coming, Grandma." She whispered, and stood up, staring down over the edge of the building to the street ten floors down. Inching a toe towards the edge, she sniffed loudly.

A pale hand waved a hanky in front of her nose, and a husky monotone voice said, "Want to wipe your nose before you hurl yourself to your death?"

The young woman screamed a little and stumbled back from the ledge, looking around in fright. After a moment, her eyes rested on the dark form of a girl wearing a long blue cloak, the hood drawn up, with two glowing white eyes burning from within.

"Holy… shit…"

"Holy I am not." Raven shook her head and lowered her hood, blinking violet eyes at the girl, "I'm Raven. What's your name?"

"Sammy." The girl replied, "And I know who you are. You're a Teen Titan. You're going to stop me from jumping."

Raven blinked at her, "No, I'm not."

"Well I wont let you… wait, you're not?"

"Hmm." Raven shook her head and walked past Sammy. Sitting down on the edge of the roof, she spoke back over her shoulder, "Trust me… I'm the last person to lecture someone about taking the easy way out."

"Easy way? You think this is easy for me?"

"Yes." Raven nodded.

"Well, it's not."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"No."

Sammy stood with her arms folded, glaring at the back of Raven's head for several minutes. As the silence stretched on, Raven broke it, "Are you going to sit down, or just stand there all night and mentally assassinate me?"

Sammy huffed at the Titan's words, but walked over and sat down anyway. She glanced over and saw Raven staring off at the bay, and the giant glowing 'T' that resided there. "It's pretty this time of year."

"I guess." Raven nodded, "So…?"

"So what?"

"Are you going to tell me why you're jumping off a building to your death? I'm sure your friends and family will want to know."

Sammy snorted, "I don't have any friends, and my family could care less."

"Hmm."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you most likely do have friends, even if you don't think you do, and that your family will always care about you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I can sense their worry from here, wondering where you are." Raven turned her depthless gaze on the other girl, "So why don't you tell me why you're up here."

Sammy fidgeted under Raven's glare, and concentrated instead on the dark Titan's violet hair, "I just… I feel like… no one cares what happens to me any more."

"I see." Raven closed her eyes and nodded, "I guess I can't blame you then."

"Aren't you supposed to be trying to stop me or something?"

"Probably. Robin would have by now."

"But you're not gonna?"

"No… I'm no hypocrite."

"What does that mean?"

Raven sighed, "It means that just like you, I gave up once."

"What happened?"

"I protected my friends from a raving lunatic and an untimely destruction by fire, and sacrificed myself to become a portal for my Father to enter this world."

"They what?" Sammy looked mildly interested.

Raven closed her eyes, "The world came to an end."

After a moments pause, Sammy snorted out a laugh, "If the world ended, why are we sitting here talking?"

"Because as stubborn and willful as I was about giving in because I saw no other way out, my friends were more stubborn still to see that I came through it okay. They fought harder than they have ever fought before, and Robin himself walked literally to the end of the world to save me."

Sammy arched an eyebrow, "Really."

"Yes." Raven nodded, "I truly wish I was making this up to make you feel better. I'm not." She held out her hand, palm up and after a moment, the mark of Scath burned there. Raven muttered aloud, even though it seemed she wasn't talking to anyone, "It marks me to this day."

"So… the Titans fought off your father…"

"Trigon is an extra-dimensional demon. The Titans returned me to life, helped me get my powers back, and I was able to send him back to the eighth layer of hell."

Sammy sat back and sighed, "And all of this pertains to me how?"

"It doesn't, really. You were asking questions, and I was answering."

"Oh. So you really wouldn't stop me if I jumped?"

"Not at all. It's your choice." Raven brushed some dust off her cloak and looked up at the moonless night, "Besides, what would stop you from coming up here in an hour, or tomorrow and jumping then? I can't be with you every second."

"So… you don't care about me either."

"Of course I would care if you fell and died. But it's not my _choice_."

"But… you're a hero!"

"Lately…" Raven looked off into the night listlessly, "I haven't felt like much of a hero…"

"What does _that_ mean?"

"You ask a lot of questions for someone intent on shuffling themselves loose from the moral coil."

Sammy paused for a moment, then looked away. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke up, still looking away, "There was this girl at school yesterday… she makes fun of me all the time… says I'm ugly and too thin."

"Sounds like projection." Raven's mouth twitched a little, "Sure you're a little on the lean side, but you're quite pretty."

"Sure." Sammy shook her head, "It's just… she found out that I like this guy… and she told him… she told him that I sleep around a lot, and that I'm a disease ridden whore."

"Exact quote?"

"Yeah."

"Was she lying?"

"Raven!" Sammy pounded the rooftop with her fist, "I've never even had sex!"

"That makes two of us." Raven looked over at the young woman, "So this has made you want to die?"

"No, it's just the most recent… no one at school likes me, and my Mom and Dad are never home… I argue with my brother all the time…"

"Samantha, if you truly wish to kill yourself, I wont stop you. But if those are your reasons, then I can only say that you'll be disappointing me." Raven turned her depthless violet gaze on Sammy, "You have so much to live for yet… how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Are you graduating this year?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Because next year will be completely different, and you'll meet new people, most of whom will be around your age and just as scared as you are about starting their new lives in the adult world. You _will_ make friends, and your life _will_ improve."

"I don't think I can make any new friends." Sammy sniffed and a tear formed in her eye. She brushed it away and looked away from Raven again.

"Well, that's a rather absurd statement." Raven stood and brushed off her cloak, "Considering you just made a new friend tonight."

Sammy's head snapped around and she looked at the dark Titan with wide eyes. Raven stared up at the sky for a moment, then down at Sammy, "Your parents are worried about you."

"How do you know?"

"I can feel it. Empathy."

"So you knew… when you came over to me, you knew I didn't really want to jump…"

"Well…" Raven lifted off the rooftop and floated out over the street, "You don't anymore, and that's what's important."

Sammy blinked, then smiled weakly, "Yeah. Thanks."

"If you ever need anything… you know where I live."

Sammy smiled and nodded. The two girls locked eyes for a moment, and something private passed between them.

An explosion rent the night air a few miles away. Raven turned her pale face to the blast and sighed. As the red glow faded, she turned back to Sammy with a grumpy expression, "Duty calls. I'll see you around."

Sammy smiled, "Sure. Be careful."

"I will. Go see your family. Even your brother." Raven levitated up into the night air, "It's best to talk to someone… get out what you're feeling inside. Sometimes they can give advice, and sometimes they can just listen, because that's all you really need. If you think you might need to talk to a professional who's used to dealing with stuff like this, I can get you some numbers…" she looked down at the young woman on the rooftop, "Just don't keep it all bottled up inside." As Sammy watched, Raven became a shadow and faded away. The dark Titan's voice echoed around her, "Stay safe, Sammy. And goodnight."

Standing from the edge of the roof, Sammy looked down. After a few minutes, she smiled, "Feh. I guess I will go talk to Brian…"

She stepped back, and walked back towards the roof hatch.

* * *

Raven rolled her neck as she walked down the hall her room was on in the Tower. Cinderblock had smacked her pretty hard, and she'd been knocked into a pile of garbage bags. The young woman sniffed at her own hair, "Ew."

"Raven." She paused and looked down the hall where Robin was about to walk into his own room, one sleeve ripped entirely off his uniform, "Good work tonight."

"Right." Raven rolled her eyes, "I was slapped into a pile of refuse and barely got any shots in at all."

"I meant before, with the girl."

Raven blinked, "What?"

"When you talked the girl down from jumping. Good work."

"I didn't… I mean…" a rose-tint colored Raven's cheeks.

Robin grinned, "You really are just a big softie, aren't you?"

The dark Titan growled and a lance of black telekinetic energy smacked Robin into his room, "Yowch!"

Raven huffed, the red tint still in her cheeks, "I need a damn shower." She muttered.

* * *

Some miles away, a telephone rang. A pale hand reached over from the couch it sat next to and picked it up, pulling it over to a an ear attached to a bright pink head of hair, "West residence. Wally is out right now, can I take a message?"

The girl with the pink hair sat up a little when the response came, "Raven? Yeah, it's Jinx. Sure, I…" she listened for a moment, then a small smile tugged at her lips, "Sure… sure I'd be glad to listen to you vent for a while." Settling back into the couch, Jinx kicked her legs up on the coffee table in front of her and knocked her Titan communicator aside, "I've got all night if you do."

* * *

**National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255**

**Suicidepreventionlifeline dot org**


End file.
